Nevin felt.. alive again. He had scrounged together a fairly powerful concoction of stimulants to take when he got back to his shop, and downed it, wincing at the acrid/bitter tang that washed down his mouth. Worse, he couldn't drink anything else to banish the vile flavor, as even water taken right now would dilute the efficacy of the brew, and if he was going down into the mines he would need every inch of his wits about him. It wasn't often that the redhead went down into a cave system - he normally preferred his explorations to take place somewhere he could see the sky. But - there were things that needed to happen in the mines, and he had promised Sketch that he would accompany the orator into the tunnels. So he collected his bag, acquired a pickaxe from a bemused general store owner - who had been highly amused at the fact that the scrawny Alchemist was going into the mines - and headed to the mine site.

The place was still a bit desolate from the Goblin attack, even though it had been a few days since the assault, and the mines had quickly reopened. The mines were the village's primary source of income, its lifeblood, and something like a few people dying in a Goblin raid could not keep the mines closed for long. By the time he got there, the midday sun was blazing high overhead, beating down on the environment as Nevin trudged into sight of the mine opening. Sketch was there, talking amicably with the mine foreman, and when the orator saw the Alchemist he cheerily waved the redhead over. Nevin could tell as he approached that some of the sheer excessive energy that had been pervading the man had faded by now, but he didn't seem to be having a chemical crash. Good.

Nevin made sure the two of them had hydrating drinks - water skins that he had dosed with a few herbs to replenish their stamina as they worked - and led the way into the mines. The first task would be to find veins to work from - veins that hadn't already been played out by the other, actually professional miners. Thankfully they had many tunnels that they had built to get the really, really profitable stuff and the large veins, leaving smaller veins often ignored in their rush for the high value things. The Alchemist did feel a bit... off as they walked through the mine shafts - it was the first time he'd been in a tight, enclosed space like this in a long, long time, and he found he didn't much care for it. Still, he would bear it for now. Finding some Damascus, iron and Plynt for their weapons would be immensely valuable, so he could just suck it up for now.